upon himself,-" fi quis unquam diffidens mei." A most extravagant self-confidence, on the contrary, is every where confpicuous, except in a few of thefe prefatory flourishes and though his maturer judgment has enabled him to see in his own Silva critica, "plurima, quæ fint juveniliter temeraria, anfoodiovox prorfùs, et homine critico, indigna;" yet the very fame character, unimproved, will be found to prevail in his critical conjectures, fcattered abundantly thoughout the notes to this work, and readily acceffible by means of his critical Index. No author efcapes his rage for correction; and Horace and Virgil, in particular, would have as little knowledge of their own works, were they prefented to them reformed à la Wakefield, as we thould of the British conflitution, were it given to his emendation. We can, however, pity while we cenfure; and moft fincerely with that, with a more temperate mind, even in literature, he would give himfelf exclufively, and without mixture, to thofe ftudies, in which, with all his failings, he has certainly made a proficiency, not common among scholars of this country,

ART. II. The Hiftory of Mauritius, or the Ile of France, and the Neighbouring Islands, from their firft Difcovery to the prefent Time; compofed principally from the Papers and Memoirs of Baron Grant, who refided I wenty Years in the Ifland, by his Son, Charles Grant, Vifcount de Vaux. Illuftrated with Maps from the beft Authorities. 4to. 592 pp. 11. 16s. Wright. 1801.

THE author of this work is a French emigrant, and, as he

expreffes himself, prefents the Hiftory of the Ifland which gave him birth, to the country that affords him protection. It contains a great deal of interefting and important information; but it is very unmethodized in its arrangement, diversified in its detail, and prolix even to tedioufnefs. The reader would hardly expect to find a protracted account of the fiege of Pondicherry; biographical sketches of various French characters, of greater or lefs celebrity; a life of Hyder Ally; and long and multiplied extracts of the correfpondence between various individuals. The neighbouring iflands are, the Island of Rodriguez, or Diego Ruis, and the Ifle of Bourbon, concerning both of which there are very curious and interesting accounts. The work is divided into Thirty Chapters, and extended to 571 pages; but perhaps the Five first Chapters contain all that the geographical ftudent, the topographical enquirer, or the lover of natural hiftory will be folicitous to

know,

know. The Maps which accompany the work are well-executed, and will be found extremely ufeful and convenient. We take an extract from the Third Chapter, as containing matter of more general entertainment.

"The Ifle of France was an abfolute defert when Mafcaregnas difcovered it. The French who firtt etablished themselves there, were certain planters from the Isle of Bourbon, who brought with them fimplicity of manners, good faith, an hofpitable difpofition, and an indifference for riches. M. de la Bourdonnais, who may, in fome degree, be confidered as the founder of this colony, brought fome workmen along with him. When, however, he had rendered this island interesting by his labours, and it was thought convenient as a ftaple for their commerce of the Indies, perfons of all conditions fettled in it.

"The agents of the Company, who poffeffed all the principal employments in the island, exercited too much of that financial difpofition, which is difcouraging to thofe who are employed in cultivating the earth. The whole of the public establishment was at their difpofal; they, at the fame time, controlled the police, the civil administration. and magazines of the ifland; fome of them cleared the land and built houfes, all of which they difpofed of, at a very high price, to those who had ventured hither, in hope of advancing their fortune. There was confequently a great outcry against them; but the power was in their hands, and complaint was of no avail.

"Several perfons in the marine fervice of the Company fettled here. They had long complained, that while they encountered dangers and fuffered fatigues in fupport of the Eaft Indian commerce, others acquired the honours and emoluments of it. As this fettle-, ment was fo near to India, a fanguine hope of advantage from fixing in it animated their mind, and they became its inhabitants.

"Several military officers of the Company arrived here; they were very refpectable perfons, and fome of them diftinguished for their birth. They could not imagine that an officer would debafe himself fo far as to receive orders from a man who had formerly been a clerk in an accompting-houfe, though he might condefcend to receive their pay. Nor did they like the failors, who are rather too peremptory in their manners. On becoming inhabitants, they retained their original difpofition, and confequently did not advance their for

tunes.

"Some of the King's regiments put in here and made some stay; while feveral of the officers, allured by the beauty of the climate and the love of repofe, were induced to establish theinfelves in the island: but every thing was at the difpofition, and fubmitted to the power of the Company.

"The inhabitants were also increased by the arrival of some miffionaries of the order of St. Lazarus.

"To complete the fettlement of this island, fome merchants with fmall capitals arrived, and found it without commerce. These people augmented the abufes of money jobbing, which they found already

established,

eftablished, and employed themfelves in forming patty monopolies : they foon became obnoxious, and acquired the name of Banians, or Jews. On the other hand, they affected to defpife any particular diftinctions of the inhabitants, and were fond of propagating the opinion, that, after having pafled the line, a general equality prevailed. "Such was the fituation of this colony when it was ceded to the King in the year 1765.

"One part of the inhabitants, who were attached to the Company from gratitude, beheld, with pain, a royal administration; while the other part, who had fo long looked for favour from a new government, feeing it principally occupied in plans of economy, were proportionably chagrined and difappointed."

"The foldiers furnifh a confiderable number of workmen, as the moderate heat permits the white people to work in the open air; though they have not been rendered fo beneficial to the colony as they might have been, in a more enlarged difpofition of their capacities.

"Though the feafaring people are always going and coming, they have, nevertheless, a confiderable influence on the manners of the coJony. Their policy is to complain alike of the places which they left, and of thofe at which they arrive: they have always bought too dear and fold too cheap, and think they are ruined if they do not gain an hundred and fifty per cent.

"An hogfhead of claret cofts five hundred livres, and every thing elfe in proportion. It is fcarce credible, that the merchandize of Europe is dearer here than in India; and that Indian commodities fetch a higher price here than in Europe. The maritime people are fo neceffary to the inhabitants, that they are held in great confideration.

"The greater part of the married people live on their plantations; and the women feldom vifit the town, but when they are tempted by a ball, or are called to perform fome effential duties of their religion. They are paffionately fond of dancing; and no fooner is a ball announced, than they come in their palanquins from every quarter, as the roads will not admit of wheel carriages.

"The women have but little colour, but they are well made, and, in general, handforme. Nature has given them a confiderable portion of wit and vivacity: and if their education were not neglected, their fociety would be very agreeable: they are very fond mothers; and if they ever fail in fidelity to the marriage vow, it is too often owing to the indifference of their hufbands, or to the Parifian manners which have been introduced among them. Their ordinary drefs is fine muflin, lined with rose-coloured taffetas.

As

They poffefs, in a great degree, the more eftimable domeftic qualities; they feldom or never drink any thing but water, and their cleanliness is extreme. Their children are never confined in fwaddling clothes, but run about almost as foon as they are born; they are often bathed, and allowed to eat fruit at their own difcretion. they are left entirely to themfelves, and are uncontrouled by the fuperintendance of education, they foon become ftrong and robuft, and their temperament advances in proportion. The females are fometimes married at eleven years of age.

"There

"There are about four hundred planters in this island, and about an hundred women of fuperior rank, not more than ten of whom live in the town. On firing the evening gun, at eight o'clock, every one retires to his own habitation.

"The Blacks.

"Of the population of this ifland, we must confider the Indians and Negroes as forming a confiderable proportion.

"The first are from the coaft of Malabar, and are very mild and gentle people: they come from Pondicherry, and let themselves out for a certain number of years. They are almoft all of them workmen, and occupy a fuburb which is called the Black Camp; they are of a deeper colour than the islanders of Madagascar, who are real Negroes, have the features of Europeans, and their hair is not woolly; they are fober and economical. Their head is dressed with a turban, and they wear long dreffes of muflin, with large gold ear-rings, and filver bracelets at the wrifts. There are some who enter into the service of the rich and titled inhabitants, as pions; a kind of domestic, which anfwers to the character of an European running footman: his peculiar diftinction is a cane in his hand, and a dagger at his girdle. It were to be wished that there were a greater number of the inhabitants of Malabar established in this island, particularly of the cast of hufbandmen.

"At prefent, Madagascar furnishes the Negroes which are destined to cultivate the land in the Ifle of Bourbon. The common price of one of them is a barrel of gunpowder, a few mufkets, fome pieces of cloth, and, above all, a certain proportion of piattres. The deareft of them costs about fifty crowns of France.

.

"Thefe people have neither fo flat a nofe, or fo dark a complexion as thofe of Guinea; fome of them are only brown; while others, as the Balambous, have long hair: nay, others of them have fair, and even red hair. They are dexterous, intelligent, and have a fenfe of honour and gratitude. The greatest infult which can be offered to one of thefe people, is to fpeak difrefpectfully of his family; they are far lefs fenfible to perfonal injuries. In their own country they work up various articles, with equal ingenuity and induftry. Their zagaye, or half pike, is very well forged, though a couple of ftones form their hammer and their anvil. The linens which their women weave are very fine, and well dyed; these they caft around them in a graceful form, and the manner in which they arrange their hair produces a pleafing head-drefs; it confifts of curls and treffes very tastefully blended with each other, and is the work of the women. They are paffionately fond of dancing and mufic; their inftrument is the tantam, which is a bow fixed to a gourd, from whence they draw a foft harmonious found, with which they accompany the airs that they compofe. Love is the general fubject of them, and the girls dance to the fongs of their lovers: the fpectators beat time and applaud.

"They are very hofpitable. A black who is on a journey, enters without previous ceremony, or being known to the owner, into any hut which fuits his convenience; and those whom he finds in it moft willingly share their meal with him. Nor is it their custom to ask from whence he comes, or whither he is going,

"Such

"Sach are the qualifications and manners with which they arrive at the Ifle of France. They are all difembarked with no clothing of any kind, but a ftrip of linen round their loins. The men are placed on one fide of the beach, and the women with their children on the other. The planters then examine them, and make their purchases accordingly. Brothers, fifters, friends, and loyers, are now feparated, and are led away to the refpective plantations to which they are def fined. Sometimes, in the paroxyfans of their defpair, they imagine that the white people are preparing to eat them, that they make red wine of their blood, and gunpowder of their bones.

"Their manner of life is as follows; at day-break, the fmacking of a whip is the fignal that calls them to their work; and they then proceed to the plantation, where they labour in a state of almost entire nakedness, and in the heat of the fun. Their nourishment is ground maize boiled in water, or loaves of the manioc; and a small piece of cloth is their only covering. For the leaft act of negligence, they are tied hand and foot to a ladder, when the overfeer gives them a certain number of ftrokes on their back, with a long whip; and with a threepointed collar clafped round their necks, they are brought back to their work. It is not neceffary to defcribe the feverity with which thefe punishments are fometimes inflicted. On their return to their habitations in the evening, they are compelled to pray to God for the profperity of their masters,

"There is a fubfifting law in favour of flaves, called the Code Noir, which ordains that they fhall receive no more than thirty ftrokes at each chaftifement; that they fhall not work on Sundays; that meat shall be given them every week, and shirts every year; but this law is not obferved.

"The Negroes are naturally of a lively difpofition, but their state of flavery foon renders them melancholy. Love alone feems to allay their pain they exert themfelves to the utmost in order to obtain a wife; and, if they can choose for themselves, they always prefer those who are advanced into a state of womanhood, who, they fay, make the beft foup. They immediately give them all they poffefs; and if their wives live in another plantation, they will undertake the most difficult and dangerous journies to fee them. On fuch occafions they fear neither fatigue nor punishment. Parties of them fometimes meet in the middle of the night, when they dance beneath the shelter of a rock, to the mournful found of a gourd filled with peas.

"The difcontented Negroes generally fly for refuge into the woods, where they are purfued by detachments of foldiers; when they are taken, they are punifhed with great feverity; and the third offence of this kind is followed by death.

"Religion is, indeed, fometimes employed to alleviate the evils of their fituation. Some of them are occafionally baptifed: they are then told that they are become the brethren of the white people, and that they will go into paradife; but it is not an eafy matter to perfuade them, that the Europeans will ever prove their guides to heaven.

"It is not for us to difcufs, in this place, the fubject of flavery, on which very able writers have differed, and with which volumes have been filled. That discipline, and fometimes a fevere one, may be ne

ceffary